This pocket card was developed for the AMI and Heart Failure measures contraindications to Beta Blockers, ACEI/ARB, and ASA. (Source: Quality Improvement Organization Support Center)  — View Improvement Tool

These materials were designed to encourage patients to adhere to their beta-blocker medications following a heart attack. Materials include: Beta-blocker brochure Beta-blocker wallet card Generic beta-blocker letter Generic beta-blocker second letter (Source: Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research)  — View Improvement Tool

WhyNotTheBest.org presents hospital performance information as determined by publicly reported process-of-care and patient satisfaction measures. There are numerous programs that measure various aspects of the performance of health care organizations, using different criteria and methodologies. Some calculate rankings, some present awards, and any are "distinctions," or lists of hospitals, health systems, home care organizations, or other health care settings that meet certain criteria. Below we list many of these programs, their sponsors, brief descriptions, and the extent to which winners are consistent from the prior year. (Source: The Commonwealth Fund)  — View Improvement Tool

This document provides an example of a business profile stating the need for work to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia and explores the projected impact on resources for a hospital participating in such an initiative. (Source: Safe & Sound: An Arizona patient safety initiative through the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association)  — View Improvement Tool

This visual aid was developed to remind and educate caregivers, staff, patients, and families about the elements of the "CATS" interventions to decrease surgical site infections: (Source: Health Services Advisory Group, Inc., the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Arizona)  — View Improvement Tool

This series of steps to reduce the risk of infection during central line insertion has been shown to be effective in hospitals around the country. (Source: Johns Hopkins Health System)  — View Improvement Tool

The chart sticker is designed to be utilized not only as a reminder of key clinical guidelines in the care of surgery patients within certain populations, but also to serve as a concurrent checklist during the patient's stay. The stickers address timing, selection, and duration for antimicrobial prophylaxis. (Source: Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care)  — View Improvement Tool

This documentary--which will be distributed to all U.S. hospitals--urges health care providers to reach for "zero" instances of preventable harm. (Source: TMIT)  — View Improvement Tool

These cards can be used with cognitively impaired non-verbal adults. This card is available in 0 to 5 and 0 to 10 versions and uses the FLACC Scale for assessment of pain in adults with cognitive, behavioral or communication deficits. (Source: New Mexico Medical Review Association)  — View Improvement Tool

This tool estimates yearly number of deaths, dollars, and ICU days attributable to CLABSIs within an ICU, hospital, or health system--as well as potential lives saved and savings from reducing such infections. (Source: The Johns Hopkins Quality and Safety Research Group)  — View Improvement Tool

The Discharge Patient Education Tool is a form that is completed by the provider and reviewed with patients prior to discharge to ensure they understand their discharge instructions. (Source: Society of Hospital Medicine)  — View Improvement Tool

This documentation sheet is used to provide discharge instructions to patients with heart failure. (Source: Cleveland Regional Medical Center)  — View Improvement Tool

Get With The Guidelines is an evidence-based program for in-hospital quality improvement. It helps to ensure that the care hospitals provide to coronary artery disease, stroke, and heart failure patients is aligned with the latest scientific guidelines. (Source: American Heart Association and American Stroke Association)  — View Improvement Tool

Listen to the presentations and dicussion and view the slides from this Commonwealth Fund webinar featuring Lucian L. Leape, M.D., adjunct professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health; Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., director, Johns Hopkins University Quality and Safety Research Group; and Brian S. Koll, M.D., medical director and chief, infection prevention, Beth Israel Medical Center. (Source: The Commonwealth Fund)  — View Improvement Tool

This video reviews the four "stepping stones" to ensure good care transitions and avoid rehospitalizations. (Source: Qualis Health)  — View Improvement Tool

A free guide for health care leaders to help start the conversation about how to address avoidable hospital readmissions. It is designed to serve as a quick, simple resource by outlining four steps: 1) Examine your hospitals current state of readmissions; 2) Assess and prioritize your improvement opportunities; 3) Develop an action plan of strategies to implement; and 4) Monitor your hospital's progress (Source: Health Research & Educational Trust )  — View Improvement Tool

This generic discharge instruction form indicates where the patient is being discharged to and also includes patient and medication instructions. (Source: Delray Medical Center)  — View Improvement Tool

This handout helps patients recognize and understand the symptoms of heart failure and how to respond. The flyer can be used in or out of the hospital to help patients understand their symptoms and how they should respond to them, especially "red flag" symptoms. (Source: Allina Hospitals and Clinics/United Health)  — View Improvement Tool

Use this calculator tool to estimate the number of hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism (VTE) at your hospital, and the proportion that are potentially preventable. (Source: Society of Hospital Medicine)  — View Improvement Tool

Six Catholic Healthcare Partners' hospitals created the position of heart failure advocate, staffed by registered nurses who received extensive training in heart failure management and treatment. (Source: Catholic Healthcare Partners)  — View Improvement Tool

This guide contains 28 case studies targeting four improvement areas: health care-acquired infections, medication management, patient throughput, and patient safety. Each case study detail show a problem related to one of the four areas manifested in a particular hospital, how the hospital chose to fix the problem and the outcomes of the implemented strategy. (Source: American Hospital Association)  — View Improvement Tool

The guide includes: A description of the case for improving hand hygiene and use of gloves among health care workers; Recommended evidence-based interventions that will result in improvement; How to begin improving hand hygiene compliance in your organization, including establishing a team, setting aims, testing changes, and measuring results; Measurement support tools. (Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement (in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America))  — View Improvement Tool

With multidisciplinary rounds, disciplines come together, informed by their clinical expertise, to coordinate patient care, determine care priorities, establish daily goals, and plan for potential transfer or discharge. This How-to Guide describes: key components of reliable multidisciplinary rounds; potential impact on outcomes; examples of success; fundamentals for forming the team, setting aims, and testing changes on a small scale; and tips for getting started and for successfully implementing multidisciplinary rounds. (Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement)  — View Improvement Tool

The key components of the Ventilator Bundle are: Elevation of the Head of the Bed; Daily "Sedation Vacations" and Assessment of Readiness to Extubate; Peptic Ulcer Disease Prophylaxis; Deep Venous Thrombosis Prophylaxis. (Source: Institute for Healthcare Improvement)  — View Improvement Tool

This report describes two tools developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)-funded research that help assess the need for hospitalization of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and determine the medical stability of patients prior to discharge. This report also discusses the importance of early administration of antibiotic therapy and the effectiveness of older, proven, yet inexpensive antibiotics compared with those used in the outpatient treatment of patients with CAP. (Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)  — View Improvement Tool